Richard Wayne Penniman, 5 December 1932, Macon, Georgia, USA. The wildest and arguably the greatest and most influential of the 50s rock n roll singers and songwriters. He first recorded in late 1951 in Atlanta for RCA Records, cutting eight urban blues tracks with his mentor Billy Wrights Orchestra, Taxi Blues being the first of four unsuccessf
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Otha Ellas Bates (later known as Ellas McDaniel), 30 December 1928, McComb, Mississippi, USA. After beginning his career as a boxer, where he received the sobriquet Bo Diddley, the singer worked the blues clubs of Chicago with a repertoire influenced by Louis Jordan, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters. In late 1954, he teamed up with Billy Boy Arnold and recorded
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29 September 1935, Ferriday, Louisiana, USA. The Killer is the personification of 50s rock n roll at its best. He is rowdy, raw, rebellious and uncompromising. The outrageous piano-pounder has a voice that exudes excitement and an aura of arrogance that becomes understandable after witnessing the seething hysteria and mass excitement at his concerts.
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Charles Hardin Holley, 7 September 1936, Lubbock, Texas, USA, d. 3 February 1959, Clear Lake, Iowa, USA. Holly was one of the first major rock n roll groundbreakers, and one of its most influential artists. He wrote his own songs, recorded with a self-contained guitar-bass-drums combo, experimented in the studio and even changed the image of what a rock singer co
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Antoine Domino, 26 February 1928, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. From a large family, Domino learned piano from local musician Harrison Verrett who was also his brother-in-law. A factory worker after leaving school, Domino played in local clubs such as the Hideaway. It was there in 1949 that band leader Dave Bartholomew and Lew Chudd of Imperial Records heard him. His first re
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Edward Raymond Cochrane, 3 October 1938, Albert Lea, Minnesota, USA, d. 17 April 1960, Chippenham, Wiltshire, England. Recent information states he was raised in Minnisota, but without sight of the birth certificate, it is still possible he was born in Oklahoma City. Although Cochrans career was brief, during which time he had only had one major hit in the USA and topp
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Carl Lee Perkins, 9 April 1932, Ridgely, Tennessee, USA (his birth certificate misspelled the last name as Perkings), d. 19 January 1998, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Carl Perkins was one of the most renowned rockabilly artists recording for Sun Records in the 50s and the author of the classic song Blue Suede Shoes. As a guitarist, he influenced many of the next ge
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Vincent Eugene Craddock, 11 February 1935, Norfolk, Virginia, USA, d. 12 October 1971, Newhall, California, USA. One of the original bad boys of rock n roll, the self-destructive Vincent was involved in a motorcycle crash in July 1955 and his left leg was permanently damaged. Discharged from the US Navy, he began appearing on country music radio and came under th
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McKinley Morganfield, 4 April 1913, Rolling Fork, Mississippi, USA, d. 30 April 1983, Chicago, Illinois, USA. One of the dominant figures of post-war blues, Muddy Waters was raised in the rural Mississippi town of Clarksdale, in whose juke-joints he came into contact with the legendary Son House and Robert Nighthawk. Having already mastered the rudiments of the harmonica an
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William John Clifton Haley, 6 July 1925, Highland Park, Michigan, USA, d. 9 February 1981, Harlingen, Texas, USA. Haley was one of the great pioneers of rock n roll and was the first artist to take the new musical form to the world stage. His roots were in country music and he began his career as a yodelling cowboy. After playing in such country groups as the Dow
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Elvis Aaron Presley, 8 January 1935, Tupelo, Mississippi, USA, d. 16 August 1977, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. The most celebrated popular music phenomenon of his era and, for many, the purest embodiment of rock n roll, Elvis Presleys life and career have become part of rock legend. The elder of twins, his younger brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn, a tragedy
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Ernest Evans, 3 October 1941, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Checkers musical career began in 1959 while working at a local chicken market. His employer introduced the teenager to songwriter Kal Mann, who penned the singers debut single, The Class. He was given his new name by the wife of the legendary disc jockey Dick Clark as a derivation of Fats
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Don (Isaac Donald Everly, 1 February 1937, Brownie, Kentucky, USA) and Phil (b. Phillip Everly, 19 January 1939, Chicago, Illinois, USA), the worlds most famous rock n roll duo, had already experienced a full career before their first record, Bye Bye Love, was released. As sons of popular country artists Ike and Margaret, they were pushed into t
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